Supreme Magus novel Chapter 56

"Nice trick, by the way. Silverwing’s Hexagram is an uncommon skill for an admission exam, but generally those who are capable of performing it are fighting oriented mages, that don’t apply to either White or Black Griffon.

I must admit to have underestimated you. I would have never expected a country bumpkin to have such deep knowledge, and to be able to exploit it to turn a good performance into an excellent one. They have not seen one of these in decades."

"F*ck me sideways!" Lith’s smug and thoughts were polar opposites.

"Either Nana didn’t know about this, or she set me up. Let’s hope my score isn’t too high. I don’t want some ’school princess/prince’ bother me because of it."

In a matter of minutes everything was settled, new dimension doors opened and the mages disappeared without saying a word.

Back into the Headmaster’s office, Linjos gave them the result.

"Congratulations, young..." He remembered that Lith had no family name.

"...mage. Your admission at White Griffon has been approved unanimously with a score of 93/100. Your actual score was 88, but since it has been years since an applicant was capable of performing the Hexagram, we awarded you 5 extra points."

"88/100?!" Lith thought. "Either I limited myself too much, or someone is really cranky today. The Hexagram proved to be a wild card, but luckily my score is still within the expected range."

Linjos continued his speech, unaware of Lith’s worries.

"I look forward to see you back here in a couple of months, to start your specialization years. Here, this is some material you can study and revise to take your choice."

The Headmaster gave Lith seven small books, the first six were about elemental specializations, while the seventh one was about item creation. Lith took them all avidly.

"Those are highly confidential. You are not supposed to show them or discuss about their content with anyone outside the White Griffon."

Linjos tone was dead serious, Lith gave his most heartfelt assurances.

"Perfect. Any question before I call in the wardrobe for your uniform?"

"Yes, one. What is the academy position about bullying? As you know, I come from a backwater village, my father is a farmer, and I don’t even have a last name. In my experience, even the best of us tend to look down upon me, if not worse."

He threw a meaningful look at the Marchioness, who pretended not to notice.

Headmaster Linjos puffed his chest with pride, straightening up his back even more.

"Glad that you asked. Before my time, commoner’s and merchant’s children had quite a rough experience. But I have established a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and violence in my academy. I hope to set up an example for everyone.

The Queen picked me up for this position because even as a student, I fought hard to defend the rights of the less fortunate. No matter their origin, powerful mages are too precious assets for the Kingdom, to allow some spoiled brats to ruin years of hard work.

You have no idea how many academies’ alumni have defected our Kingdom to get their revenge. The Court is giving this matter the utmost importance, that’s why I expect many heads to fall in the next years."

Just thinking of how many brilliant mages, even geniuses, had their lives destroyed by abuses of power, made Linjos heart bleed. Once they grew in power, they had left their home country with no hesitation, turning into a thorn in the side of the King.

Their rage was unbridled, the only way to make them come back would be to wipe out entire ancient noble families, but that was something outside even the King’s reach. It would start a civil war, he had to choose the lesser evil.

But that didn’t mean he would let that evil to keep eroding the Kingdom’s backbone.

"Yes, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of." Lith didn’t feel even a bit reassured by his words.

"As a hunter, I learned that a cornered beast is the most dangerous one. What if, hypothetically, I would be harassed by one or more influential people?"

"I would stand by your side, and give them the proper punishment!"

The answer was too quick.

"Man, this guy is green. Either he comes from a fairy tale, or has not been in the real world long enough for it to bite his a*s." Lith thought.

"I’m sure of your sincerity, but please, think about it. Prince whatever harasses a country bumpkin and gets reported. It’s just the victim word against someone who has at his back political and magical influence. What could you do?" _{ƒrēewebnovel.com}

"I would order for an exhaustive investigation, listening to all the witnesses."

"And what if the witnesses get intimidated? Or if there is no witness at all? Are you telling me you could still do something?"

Linjos long face seemed to become even longer.

"No, I could not. Prince whatever would at worst get a reprimand, and I could only ask the staff to keep an eye on the bumpkin."

"Isn’t there anything at all you can do to prevent this?" Lith was seriously rethinking everything. Getting admitted with a high score and having just Count Lark as an official backer, would make his permanence a nightmare straight from day one.

"With all the magical marvels you got, isn’t there some kind of alarm? A panic whistle? A ’gods please, someone, anyone save me’ device?"

"Actually, there is." Linjos words made Lith sigh with relief.

From one of the desk’s drawers, Linjos took out a big wooden box twice as big, full to the brim of black pearl-lookalike spheres the size of a baseball.

"Lucky bastard! Even his drawers are pocket dimensions. I want to learn forgemastering so bad."